Method and apparatus for recycling carpet

ABSTRACT

The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for separating carpet fibers from a backing material to which said fibers are secured. The apparatus includes a belt for driving a carpet strip having one or more backings and one or more fibers secured on a face of said backing into the operative part of the device. There are a pair of rollers that are adapted to receive the carpet strip from said belt, and pass the carpet strip to a dish plate. The dish plate has an edge extending upwardly from the dish plate. The face of the carpet having the fibers contacts the edge after the carpet passes through the rollers. The edge of the blade holds the carpet presenting it to the main drum. The main drum rotates downwards and has a plurality of pins that shred the carpet backing and tear apart and free the face carpet fibers from the backing fibers. The face fibers pass to a receptacle for recycling. The torn backing fibers, being usually longer and lighter than the face fibers, remain within the pins of the drum and are transported towards the back end of the machine and fall in a different receptacle for recycling.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to improvements in apparatus andmethods for preparing carpet for recycling.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many industries are trying to become more environmentally friendly. As aresult, many companies try to use more natural materials in theirproducts. Others try to use recycled materials. One industry that hasbeen very active in recycling has been the carpet industry. Many carpetcompanies use recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) from sodabottles to manufacture carpet fibers.

There is also a great deal of interest in recycling old carpet. At thepresent time, there is no uniform method of recycling carpet. Recycledcarpet has a variety of uses including but not limited to compositelumber in the form of decking and sheets, tile backer board roofingshingles, railroad ties, automotive parts, carpet cushion, etc.

Carpet basically has two components, the face fiber and the backingstructure to which the face fibers are secured. The face fiber is thepart of the carpet on which the consumer walks. It is the top surface ofthe carpet. There are four common face fibers in use today. These areNylon 6, Nylon 6.6, polypropylene (also called olefin) and polyester.Each of the face fibers has completely different properties (of thelisted), which is why each of the types of face fibers must be separatedfrom other different face fibers. The backing to where the face fibersare secured is usually a different material. Typical backing materialsinclude polyvinyl chloride, latex and polypropylene.

At the present time, most recycling processes used for carpet try torecycle the face fibers. It is much more difficult to deal with thebacking. The backing is usually composed of one or two polypropylenescrims and usually an adhesive present in addition to the backingmaterial itself Each of these materials are frequently made fromdifferent polymeric materials that are difficult to recycle together andneed to be separated.

In some recycling processes, the carpet is initially tested to identifythe types of fibers. Once the recycler knows with which kind of carpetthey are dealing, the face fiber is separated from the backing and theglue is stripped off the back of the carpeting. In one process describedin U.S. Pat. No. 5,898,063, nylon polymers or nylon fibers are dissolvedin a solvent at, at least, the dissolution temperature of the nylon inthe solvent. The solvent containing the dissolved nylon is then removedfrom the remainder of the solid residue. Last, the solvent nylonsolution is cooled to precipitate and recover the nylon. There are othertypes of chemical carpet recycling processes, including those shown inU.S. Pat. No. 7,067,613 to Mauldin, U.S. Pat. No. 6,610,769 to Blanpainand U.S. Pat. No. 6,379,489 to Goulet. Besides chemical recyclingprocesses, there are shredding methods where shredded carpet is meltedto be reused in another application. These patents include U.S.Published Patent Applications 2004/0048035 to Bailey, 2003/0075824 toMoore and U.S. Pat. No. 5,684,052 to Krishnan. Some other processesgrind the carpet into small granules and then use air to separate theindividual components into their constituent parts. These patentsinclude U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,949 to Sharer, U.S. Pat. No. 7,635,099 toMeredith and U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,945 to Sferrazza. In U.S. Pat. No.6,051,300 portions of the carpet are selected for grinding. Theseselected separate portions are melted after grinding for reuse.

A screen is used to separate ground particles of carpet materials inU.S. Pat. No. 6,250,575 to White and U.S. Pat. No. 6,155,020 to Deem.Costello et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,207 is directed towards a processfor recycling carpet selvage waste that employs a device for shearingthe face fiber of a carpet using multiple beveling heads. The devicecontains four beveling heads encased in separate boxes each whichinclude a rotating cutting device, a stationary cutting device and avacuum hose. The beveling heads are situated at equal intervals and areplaced so that they are adjacent to a central rotating drum that carriesselvage waste along its outer surface. The device functions bycontacting the moving selvage waste with the beveling heads to yieldremoved face fiber and a sheared selvage waste composite. The face fiberis ultimately removed to a face fiber storage bin through the vacuumlines attached to the respective box. (See column 9, lines 40-67).

Hoover, U.S. Published Patent Application 2009/0082476 is for a processwhere face yarn is shaved and the face shaved yarn is reduced in size.Contaminants are removed by mechanical screeners. The shaved face yarnis then melt filtered and then fiber spun.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus that providesmore complete separation of carpet backing from carpet fibers.

It is also an object of the invention to provide an apparatus thatfacilitates carpet recycling.

It is another object of the invention to provide a means for separatinga backing made from polypropylene or other polymeric composition fromcarpet fibers of nylon or other fibrous polymeric material.

It is a further object of the invention to reduce unrecycled carpetmaterials.

It is still another object of the invention to increase therecyclability of carpet materials.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to an apparatus for preparing one ormore sections of carpet for recycling. The apparatus of the presentinvention permits a carpet strip to be separated into its backingcomponent and its fiber component. By the term strip is meant a carpetsection that is up generally up to 72″ wide and any length desired. Thewidth of the carpet used in the present invention is only limited by howwide the cylindrical roller or drum is. One of the benefits of thepresent invention is that the old carpet need not be cut into fairlysmall pieces in order to recycle it. The carpet has a backing materialthat is made of a first polymeric thermoplastic material and has fibersof a second polymeric thermoplastic material extending from the backing.Although the first and second material may be the same polymericthermoplastic material, the more usual situation is where the first andsecond materials are different thermoplastic materials and thereforemore difficult to separate from each other. In addition, blends of thetwo different polymeric materials, such as nylon and polypropylene donot have the same types of uses as polypropylene and nylon would haveseparately. As a result, there is a greater market for the individualcomponents than for the blend. In addition, some of the polymericmaterials are incompatible with each other and therefore blends of thesematerials are not marketable as recycled polymers. In one embodiment ofthe invention, the first carpet material is polypropylene.Polypropylene, while it can be used as a carpet fiber, does haveparticular application as a backing material.

Secured to the backing material by any suitable means including but notlimited to heat bonding or an adhesive is a fiber that constitutes thepile of the carpet. This pile may be a length of fiber that has one endsecured to the backing and the other end extending upwardly therefrom orthe fiber may be a length of fiber that is folded over so that it is inthe form of two lengths connected at a base portion. The two lengths aresecured at the base portion to the backing where there is a fold at thebase. The fiber may also be secured to the backing in any suitablemanner. The carpet backing is the structure that holds together all thesingle lengths of fiber that form the pile of the carpet. The fiber thatis attached to the backing is preferably a nylon material but could beanother type of material such as polyethylene terephthalate or othercarpet material. The term nylon material includes but is not limited tonylon 6 and nylon 6.6 or blends thereof.

The carpet strip is preferably placed face down on the feeder belt orfeed in belt of the device of the present invention. By face down ismeant that the carpet fibers attached to the backing are positionedcloser to the surface of the feeder belt than the backing. The feederbelt drives the carpet strip to a first roller, which is positionedabove the belt. This roller holds the carpet in position on the belt asthe carpet is passed into the device of the present invention. The firstroller is preferably positioned above one of the rollers of the feederbelt so that the two rollers can keep the carpet strip from rising abovethe surface of the belt during belt travel. The two rollers help also tohold the carpet while the pins of the main drum tear the carpet apartand free the face pile fibers from the fibers of the backing structure.From the belt the carpet strip is passed to a pair of nip rollers thatdrive the leading edge of carpet strip to the edge of a dish plate. Thisedged may be a sharp edge if desired. The nip rollers pull the carpetfrom the feeder belt to the dish plate. The top nip roller is preferablya floating roller meaning that it can be adjusted to accommodatedifferent thicknesses of carpet and hold the carpet with an adjustablepressure operated by two air cylinders positioned one on each side ofthe machine. Once set to the desired height and pressure in oneembodiment, the upper of the two nip rollers may be secured in thatposition.

The dish plate has an upper edge which the fiber side of the carpetpasses. The angle of the upper edge is preferable less than about 30°,more preferably less than about 20° and most preferably less than about15° The dish plate has a top surface that is curved to conform generallyto the curve of the circumference of the upper nip roller. The carpetfibers contact the surface of the curve on the dish plate as the carpetstrip passes from the nip rollers. As the carpet is driven up the faceof the curved portion of the dish plate by the nip rollers, the firstend of the carpet strip reaches the top edge of the dish plate and isaggressed by the pins of the main drum that tear the carpet and free theface pile fibers from the fibers of the backing structure. The main drumis provided with a plurality of pins. These pins extend upwardly fromthe outer surface of the drum. As the main drum rotates downwards fromthe top edge of the dish plate about its axis, the pins push down thecarpet backing around the top edge of the dish plate. The closetolerances of the top edge, the upper nip roller and the main drum'spins, make possible for the pins to shred and tear apart the wholestructure of the carpet, thus separating a significant percentage of thecarpet fiber from the backing. In some instances the fibers whenseparated from the backing material have as little as 5-10% of backingand adhesive material with the carpet fibers which is significantlybetter than is typically obtained. Similarly the backing that isseparated from the carpet fibers may only have as little as 10% carpetfiber present with the backing material separated from the fibers.

The face carpet fibers separated from the backing fibers by the highspeed of the pins of the drum generally fly away tangentially to thedrum and drop by gravity into a suitable receptacle where they can becollected for recycling. The main drum preferably rotates at a highspeed. Preferably the drum rotates at about 525 RPM's. The receptaclemay be provided with one or more sidewalls that are hinged or flexibleto permit the opening area of the receptacle to be enlarged tofacilitate collection of the fibers.

The receptacle may be a belt that removes the fibers away from thedevice for further processing. The apparatus of the present invention ispreferably provided with a suitable guide to assist in directing thefibers to the receptacle. There may also be a guide that directs theremainder of the carpet strip into contact with the pins extendingoutwardly from the main drum as the drum rotates. In a preferredembodiment, the guides may be combined into a single guide. The combinedguide of the present invention, broadly speaking, is in the formgenerally of an inverted V in cross section. The apex or point of theinverted V is an edge preferably extending from the region adjacent,from one side of the main drum to the opposite side of the main drum.The V has two legs extending generally downwardly from the apex. Thefirst leg has a generally curved profile and the curve follows thegeneral curve of the circumference of the main wheel drum. The positionof the guide is adjustable so that the surface of the curved guide legthat is adjacent the main drum can be moved closer or further away fromthe main drum to increase or decrease the separation and removal of pilefiber that fly away tangentially to the main drum from the backingfibers that continue to turn inside the pins of the main drum towardsthe back end of the machine (the closer the edge of the guide is to thedrum, the higher quantity of pile fiber can be removed). This adjustmentcauses as a secondary effect that bringing the edge of the guide closerto the drum increases the percentage of undesired backing fibercontaminating the pile fiber, therefore the user of the machine willhave to decide the best compromise on the distance of the guide from themain drum for his needs.

The opposite leg of the guide is positioned so that one end, the endopposite the apex is in or nearly in the receptacle so that the shreddedfiber may be deposited from the knife blade into the receptacle. In apreferred embodiment, the second leg of the V extends partially into thereceptacle where it contacts an inner surface of the sidewall of thereceptacle. Because the guide is adjustable with respect to theproximity of the first curved leg to the surface of the main drum, thesecond leg also moves as a result of this adjustability. This motion issuch that the receptacle is preferably provided with a flexible sidewall or a hinged sidewall to accommodate the movement of the guide.

The receptacle may be any suitable container for receiving the shreddedpieces of carpet fiber. Alternatively, the fiber may drop onto a channelor belt where the fiber pieces are passed from the belt to a receptacleor other packing means for recycling. Similarly, the fibers may beprocessed directly at the facility where the carpet is treated by theapparatus of the present invention.

After the fibers are stripped from the backing, the pins on the maindrum cause the backing to be directed around the drum where the backingreaches a negative pressure roller (also known as a condenser cage),which holds the shredded backing to its outer surface by the internalvacuum. As the negative pressure roller rotates, the shredded backing istransported to a pair of rollers. One roller is a drive roller; thesecond roller causes the shredded backing to pass onto a belt where itcan be transported away from the device for further processing. Thecondenser cage also assists in removing dust generated by the process.This dust enters the cage through the orifices in the surface and thenegative pressure in the cage causes the dust to be removed.

A second guide positioned on the other side of the main drum. This guidecuts off the wind generated by the rotation of the main drum and thepins on the main drum and forces the backing to fall on the negativepressure roller or condenser cage.

The negative pressure roller is preferably a roller with a plurality oforifices in the surface of the roller that are preferably smaller thanthe sizes of the pieces of the shredded carpet backing. The negativepressure in the roller causes the backing particles to adhere to thesurface of the drum because of the vacuum present in the roller. Thisnegative pressure causes the backing particles to fall from the areawhere the second guide meets the main drum onto the negative pressureroller. As particles of backing go along the negative pressure rollerthey are held in place by the vacuum until they are removed from thenegative pressure roller and dropped onto the belt for removal andrecycling. The air sucked through the holes of the perforated surface ofthe negative pressure roller removes a great amount of dust, latex andcalcium carbonate (all components of the carpet backing) generatedduring the tearing action of the pins of the main drum on the carpet.This dusty air is then processed and cleaned through a dedicated filter(not shown in the enclosed drawings).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a representative example of a side view of a carpetsection.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a carpet fiber shredding portion of theapparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of an example of the pins used on the mainwheel of the apparatus of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a representative example of a side view of a carpetsection. The section 10 has a backing 11 to which the carpet fibers 12or pile are secured by adhesive 13 or other suitable means. The fiberscan have any suitable length extending from the backing as desired bythe carpet manufacturer in response to the consumer needs or desires. Insome carpets, the fibers may form a tight nap due to the number offibers per square inch. In other carpets, the fibers may be longer andmore flexible as in a shag type carpet.

The carpet section of FIG. 1 shows a single strand of fiber folded abouta center section 14 and secured to the backing 11 at the center section.These small pieces of fiber are sometimes called a “U”. It will beappreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of arrangementsof the fiber are also possible. For example, one end of a fiber strandmay be secured to the backing and the other opposite end of the fiberstrand extends outwardly from the backing. The carpet section may be afull piece of carpet or it may be strips that have been cut from acarpet.

The carpet that may be used in the present invention is preferably acarpet that has the backing made from one thermoplastic polymericmaterial and the fibers made from a different polymeric thermoplasticmaterial although prior to being placed on the belt of the device of thepresent invention, the face fibers could have been trimmed as close tothe backing as possible by conventional shearing devices. However, it isnot required that the face fibers be pre-trimmed in the presentinvention. In the conventional process the face fibers are recycledseparately from the remainder of the carpet. In conventional systems,the backing with the residue of fiber secured thereto is recycled as acomposite material; however, this composite material has limited use inrecycling as the backing is typically made from a polymericthermoplastic method that is different from the pile fibers.

As depicted in FIG. 2, the apparatus 20 of the present inventionincludes a belt 21 that may be any suitable length or width. The carpetsection may be any suitable length and width as long as it fits on thebelt of the apparatus. The carpet section used in the present inventionis not limited to narrow strips but rather fairly large sections may befed into the device. The carpet 10 to be recycled can be the entireoriginal carpet or could have already been initially trimmed so that anylong fibers on the upper surface of the carpet are removed leaving onlythe base or backing and a short section of the fiber extending upwardlyfrom the backing. The carpet section to be recycled is positioned on thefeed belt in a face down position with the backing 11 configuredupwardly on the feed belt and the fiber portion of the carpet 12contacting the feed belt 21. At one end of the belt there is a pressingroller 22 that keeps the carpet section positioned on the feed belt. Thepressing roller 22 is preferably positioned above one of the beltrollers at the end of the section of belt. The belt drives the carpetsection from the belt to a pair of rollers. These rollers are nip orfeed rollers. There is a top feed roller 23 and a bottom feed roller 24.The top 23 and bottom feed roller 24 direct the carpet section to a dishfeed 25. The dish feed preferably has a length similar to the length ofthe main drum from about one end to the other end of the main drum butit does not have to be the full length of the drum. The dish feed 25 maybe in the form of a block or dish plate with a curved surface 26 thatgenerally conforms to the curve of the circumference of the upper feedroller 23. At the upper edge of the dish feed 25 there is a an edge 27.The tip of the blade has a sharp edge. At the edge of the dish feed thecarpet is forced by the downward rotation of the main drum 28 to moveover the edge of the dish feed and travel down toward the base 29 of theapparatus. The main drum preferably rotates at a fairly high speed inthe order of more than 300 rpm's and more preferably more than 400 rpm'sand most preferably 500-600 rpm's. The main drum 28 is in the form of acylinder of any suitable length and diameter. The main drum has aplurality of pins extending outwardly from the surface of the main drum.The main drum can also be adjusted in distance from the edge 27, so thatits pins grab onto the backing 11 and shred and tear apart the structureof the carpet backing, thus freeing the pile fibers such as the “U's”.The free pile fibers are thrown down tangentially by the pins of thedrum and fall from the area of the edge toward the receptacle 30 thatreceives the fibers. The receptacle 30 can be any configuration, in oneembodiment the receptacle can be in the form of a conveyor type beltthat shredded fibers fall onto and are removed by the motion of thebelt.

The longer shredded backing fibers remain closer to the pins of the drumand are dropped to between the rear surface of the dish feed 25 and aguide 32. The guide 32 has a first surface 33 that may be curved togenerally conform to the curve of the circumference of the main drum 28.The curved surface of the first leg 33 of the guide keeps the shreddedbacking fibers in position on the pins 31 of the main drum 28. Thesecond surface 34 of the guide is angled towards the receptacle thatreceived the fiber debris stripped from the backing. This guide isadjustable so that it can be moved closer to the main drum 28 or furtheraway depending on the quantity of pile carpet fiber that is to beseparated from the carpet backing fiber. As the guide moves closer tothe main drum or further away as required, the second surface 34 of theguide is also moving thereby narrowing or widening the opening area ofthe receptacle 30 receiving the carpet fiber debris. Because of thismotion the receptacle has at least one side wall 35 that is angled asshown. In a more preferred embodiment, this side wall is hinged so thatthe opening of the receptacle can be adjusted as the guide is adjustedin response to the desired pile fiber/carpet backing fiber separation.

As the backing fiber 11 moves along the main drum 28, the pins 31extending outwardly of the surface of the main drum 28 pull the backingalong the outer surface of the main drum 28. As shown in FIG. 4, as thebacking fiber is moved by the pins on the drum the backing fiber istransported to a guide bar 40 that breaks off the circumferential windgenerated by the rotating pins and causes the backing to be removed fromthe pins. The guide bar 40 is adjustable so that it can be made closerto or farther away from the pins 31 on the main drum 28. The shreddedpieces of backing fall onto the outer surface of a negative pressureroller 41 or a condenser cage. The condenser could be located as shownin the existing drawing, but may also be located as a separate machinein a different location. The backing at this stage is substantiallybacking material with a small quantity of pieces of the fiber “U's”. Thenegative pressure roller has a plurality of orifices in the outersurface of the roller. A vacuum on the surface of the roller in theregion of the orifices causes particles of the shredded backing toadhere to the outer surface of the negative pressure 41 as it rotates.The shredded backing is transported to a second belt where the backingis deposited on the belt 42 and transported to a receptacle (not shown)for further processing.

The air sucked through the plurality of orifices in the outer surface ofthe negative pressure roller carries with itself a great amount of dustand crushed latex and calcium carbonate generated during the tearingaction of the pins of the main drum on the carpet.

1. An apparatus for separating carpet fibers from a backing material towhich said fibers are secured comprising: a) a feed belt for driving acarpet strip having one or more backings and one or more fibers securedon a face of said backings, b) a pair of nip rollers, said nip rollersadapted to receive said carpet strip from said belt, and c) a dishplate, said dish plate having an edge, said face of said carpet havingsaid fibers contacting said edge after said carpet passes through saidnip rollers, said edge holding said carpet while pins of a main drumtear apart the carpet backing structure and separating said fibers fromsaid backing, said fibers separated from said backing passing to a firstreceptacle for recycling, and d) a main drum, said main drum having aplurality of pins for receiving said backing as said strip passes oversaid edge of said dish plate, said backing being torn apart by saidpins, said pins causing said torn backing fibers to be carried by saidmain drum towards a back end of the apparatus, e) a second receptaclefor receiving said shredded backing fibers at said back end of theapparatus.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1 comprising a firstguide member with a first guide portion for directing shredded carpetpile fibers into said first receptacle.
 3. The apparatus according toclaim 2 wherein said first guide member comprises a second guide portionfor directing said backing into contact with said pins on said maindrum.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said first guideportion and said second guide portion of said first guide member form ofan inverted V shape, said V shape having an apex.
 5. The apparatusaccording to claim 4 wherein said second guide portion comprises a curvecorresponding to the curve of the circumference formed by said pins onsaid main drum.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 4 wherein theposition of said second guide portion is adjustable relative to thedistance away from an outer surface of said main drum.
 7. The apparatusaccording to claim 6 wherein said backing shredded fiber is transportedby said pins on said main drum to a second guide member where saidbacking shredded fiber is removed by said second guide member.
 8. Theapparatus according to claim 7 further comprising a negative pressuredrum for receiving shredded backing material after it has been removedby said guide.
 9. The apparatus according to claim 8 wherein saidnegative pressure drum transports shredded backing material to saidsecond receptacle for recycling said backing material.
 10. The apparatusaccording to claim 8 wherein said negative pressure drum transports saidshredded backing material to a belt for transporting said backingmaterial to said second receptacle for recycling said backing material.11. The apparatus according to claim 10 wherein said first guide portionof said first guide member is configured to be adjustable along withsaid adjustable second guide portion.
 12. The apparatus according toclaim 11 wherein said receptacle for said carpet pile fibers has atleast one hinged sidewall said opening in said sidewall thereby beingadjustable.
 13. The apparatus according to claim 12 wherein said dishplate has at least one surface that has a curve that corresponds to thecurve of one of said nip rollers.
 14. A method of separating carpetfibers from a backing material to which said fibers are securedcomprising, placing a carpet strip containing said fibers and saidbacking on a feed belt where said backing is face up on said belt, andsaid fibers are closer to the surface of said belt than said backing,passing said carpet strip through a pair of nip rollers which force saidcarpet strip along a face of a dish plate, passing the fibers of saidcarpet strip over an edge on said dish plate which holds the carpetwhile the pins of a main drum tear apart the carpet and free the carpetpile fiber from the carpet backing fiber; transporting said separatedcarpet pile fibers to a first receptacle, positioning said backing onsaid pins extending from a surface of said main drum, transporting saidbacking on said main drum using a first guide, removing said backing onsaid main drum by a second guide, and transporting said shredded backingto a second receptacle.
 15. The method according to claim 14 furthercomprising providing said first guide with a movable guide portion, andadjustably moving said movable guide portion of said first guide fordirecting separated carpet fibers into said first receptacle.
 16. Themethod according to claim 15 further comprising providing said secondguide with a movable guide portion, and adjustably moving said movableguide portion of said second guide for directing said backing intocontact with said pins on said main drum.
 17. The method according toclaim 16 further comprising adjusting the position of said movableportion of said first guide with respect to said main drum for changingthe desired quantity of said pile fibers to be removed from saidbacking.
 18. The method according to claim 17 further comprising thestep of directing said shredded backing to the surface of a negativepressure drum, said negative pressure holding shredded backing on saiddrum as said drum rotates.
 19. The method according to claim 18 whereinsaid shredded backing is transported by said negative pressure drum to abelt.
 20. The method according to claim 19 further comprising the stepof transporting said shredded backing along said belt to said secondreceptacle.
 21. An apparatus for separating carpet fibers from a backingmaterial to which said fibers are secured comprising: a) a feed belt fordriving a carpet strip having one or more backings and one or morefibers secured on a face of said backings, b) a pressing roller forretaining said carpet strip on said belt c) a pair of feed rollers, saidfeed rollers adapted to receive said carpet strip from said belt, and d)a dish feed, said dish feed having a dish plate, said dish plateterminating in an upper edge at an upper surface thereof, said face ofsaid carpet having said fibers contacting said edge after said carpetpasses through said feed rollers, said edge holding said carpet whilethe pins of the main drum tear apart the carpet backing structureseparating said fibers from said backing, said fibers separated fromsaid backing passing to a first receptacle for recycling, and e) a maindrum, said main drum having a plurality of pins for receiving saidbacking as said strip passes over said edge of said dish plate, saidbacking being torn apart by said pins, said pins and a first guidecausing said torn backing fibers to be carried by said drum towards aback end of the machine, f) a second guide, said second guide removingsaid shredded backing fibers from said pins on said main drum, and g) asecond receptacle for receiving said shredded backing fibers.
 22. Amethod of separating carpet fibers from a backing material to which saidfibers are secured comprising, placing a carpet strip containing saidfibers and said backing on a belt where said backing is face up on saidbelt, and said fibers are closer to the surface of said belt than saidbacking, passing said carpet between said belt and a pressing roller toretain said carpet strip in position on said belt; passing said carpetstrip through a pair of feed rollers which force said carpet strip alonga face of a dish plate, said dish plate having an edge on an uppersurface, passing the fibers of said carpet strip over said edge of saiddish plate, holding said carpet while the pins of a main drum tear apartand shred the carpet backing structure of said carpet strip separatingsaid pile carpet fibers from said carpet backing fibers, transportingsaid separated pile carpet fibers to a first receptacle, transportingsaid carpet backing fibers on one or more pins extending from a surfaceof the main drum to a separating guide, directing said shredded backingto the surface of a negative pressure drum said negative pressureholding shredded backing fibers on said drum as said drum rotates,transporting said shredded backing fibers to a second receptacle. 23.The method according to claim 22 wherein said second receptacle is adelivery belt.